You Matter Nashville

E.L.I.'s House with Jenny Rustioni and Natalie Lemarbre

• Jason and Mindy Hoover • Episode 25

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In this episode of You Matter Nashville, we sat down with Jenny Rustioni and Natalie Lemarbre of Eli’s House, a life-changing nonprofit based right here in Franklin. Eli’s House is a faith-based two-year residential program where moms and their children heal together after trauma. Jenny and Natalie shared their heartfelt journey of turning personal pain into purpose, equipping families to not just survive but thrive.

We talked about everything from equine therapy and emotional intelligence to the transformative power of faith and community. Hearing how Eli’s House is breaking generational cycles and restoring dignity, confidence, and hope was truly incredible. This is a story of redemption, resilience, and unwavering love—and we left this conversation more inspired than ever.

Takeaways:

  • Eli’s House provides a safe, healing place for moms and kids to overcome trauma—together.
  • Their unique two-year residential program includes emotional intelligence training, spiritual development, trauma-informed therapy, and vocational prep.
  • Equine therapy plays a key role in helping moms and kids reconnect and heal in a powerful way.
  • The organization focuses on deep, personal connections—serving just five families at a time for meaningful transformation.
  • Eli’s House stays connected with families even after graduation, offering continued support and love.
  • There are many ways to get involved, from volunteering with childcare and transportation to hosting luncheons or supporting their annual fundraiser.
  • Eli’s House is driven by faith, compassion, and a fierce commitment to breaking cycles of trauma for generations to come.


E.L.I.'s House
https://www.elishouse.org/

You Matter Nashville YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@YouMatterNashville

The Hoover Team
https://www.thehooverteam.com/

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Hey, Nashvilleans, welcome to the You Matter Nashville podcast, the place where every story we share is a celebration of you, the heartbeat of our community. I'm Jason Hoover, delighted to be one half of your hosting duo.

 

And I'm Mindy Hoover, joining you alongside Jason to bring you the stories of inspiring individuals and unsung heroes making a positive impact right here in our hometown.

 

Every episode is about passions, dreams, and actions that stitch together the Middle Tennessee community.

 

So if you're looking to get inspired by the good happening around us, or if you want to hear from the change makers who believe, just like us, that you matter, then hit that follow button on your favorite podcast platform.

 

And if you are looking to make a move in the middle Tennessee area, Mindy and I are real estate professionals and would be honored to serve you with excellence.

 

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Now let's dive into another episode of You Matter Nashville.

 

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Welcome back to You Matter Nashville. Today we're sitting down with two amazing women who are turning heartbreak into hope. Jenny Rustioni, who is the founder of Eli's House, and Natalie Lemarbre, the organization director of development. Now Eli's House is a faith-based two-year residential program where moms and kids heal together after trauma. From equine therapy on a working farm to parent coaching and vocational training.

 

These ladies are building a place where families don't just survive, they thrive. Jenny, Natalie, thank you so much for joining us.

 

Thanks so much for having us.

 

Thank you.

 

Yes, thank you so much. I'm just loving everything that you guys are about and every mission starts with a story. So I can't wait for you to share, you know, your mission, the story behind how all of this got started.

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Yeah, so really this story got started about 19 years ago. So I was working as a cardiovascular nurse at Vanderbilt and in the ICU and I found myself single and pregnant. And it was at that moment that I really felt like I let my family down. Even though was 26 years old, that wasn't how my family saw my life playing out and it wasn't how

 

I really wanted my life to play out, I felt what it was like to really be judged. And it really gave me so much compassion for people in positions where the world judges you for it. And it's a really terrible feeling. And so it started then. And after I had my son, I...

 

did not marry his dad and my son experienced several adverse childhood experiences. And I had a front row seat at seeing what trauma does to people, especially our children at no fault of their own. And it's really left me at war with what trauma does to people, especially children. And I'm at war with what trauma does to people and how it can follow them for a lifetime.

 

So that's really how this story started. You know, our mission is really to equip women and their children to thrive after trauma. And the main thing that inspired me to do something like this is because of the experience that I went through with Eli, but also my middle son, Luca, has been a huge inspiration for starting Eli's house. And then our six-year-old daughter,

 

who we adopted at five days old was another huge inspiration. And she almost ended up in the foster care system. And the thought of her in the foster care system really led me to want to help keep kids out of our foster care system. Even though we need it, it's a very broken system that leads to a lot more trauma. And so I knew we wanted to do that. so it's, you know,

 

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The stories all birthed out of a lot of personal pain to answer that question.

 

And you know, there have, there's been so much awareness that has come out of the foster care stories. I mean, look at our vice president right now. I just finished a book this past week on a story of a child growing up in foster care and it was just devastating. So, I mean, like you said, it's, it's a means to an end. We need it, but it is broken. And so seeing a program where you are super focused in on, you know, helping these families stay together, that's just paramount.

 

you know, keeping these moms with the babes and treating the trauma together, healing them together.

 

That's right. you know, we're the only organization in Williamson County and Davidson County doing this work in a faith based setting and surrounding counties. mean, I just took a mom from Denver, a mom from Alabama because this resource is so limited. know, and to your point, we really believe that if they stay together, they're able to heal better together. And, you know,

 

I started out doing some research before we opened the doors to Eli's house. I had meeting after meeting with people in the community because I knew, like I already said, I wanted to help keep kids out of the foster care system, but I didn't know, like, what is the need in our community? Well, after spending several months meeting with people, they're like, there's nowhere for the women and the children to go. And so was like, well, that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna keep these people together.

 

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and help heal the family and the trajectory line of the family. you know, these women are my biggest heroes. They're my biggest heroes. They're stepping up and saying, no more of this for my children and my children's children. And they are the change agents in their family. And the amount of courage it takes for them to come here and do this is just astronomical. You know, we had a mom come

 

just yesterday and she just keeps crying and she's like I'm just a bad mom I'm just a bad mom and y'all she's not I've seen bad moms we know what bad moms are yeah she is. Chasing him around wanting to do the right thing for him and it's just amazing to see it's amazing to see her want to step up and do that she's been addicted to meth her dad at 13 years old is the one that showed her how to shoot up meth.

 

And she's been in a lifestyle of trafficking since she was 16 years old. She's now 25. So she's my biggest hero. And I told her that she doesn't understand what I mean by that. But you know what? One day she will. Yeah.

 

I like that you see the good in people. We're so accustomed to social media and all of this that people just attack immediately. And that's not good for our mental health. And I wonder if social media has expedited the dark side of humanity. Because I believe we are naturally good people. I'm on that side.

 

you know, good people turn bad and it doesn't help when you're struggling. If you've got a meth addiction or whatever that you're struggling with, when you are seeing society, classify you in a, in a dark, dark light. And so it's, it's good to have people like you that see the positive, see the good in them. Just like you said, you're not a bad mother.

 

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You may have some wrong things, but you're not a bad mother.

 

mean, you know, she learned coping strategies as a child to survive. was raised by addicts and in extreme poverty and neglect. But, know, to your point of society, we'll just toss these people away. Before I started Eli's house, before I adopted my youngest daughter. So this is probably, gosh, I don't know, eight, nine, ten years ago, I went on a run.

 

And I live in Franklin. so if you're familiar with that area, I was in running near granny white park and all of a sudden I feel and I'm a, I'm a Jesus freak. I'm a Jesus lover. Okay. So some people might find this weird, but I'm over there running by granny white park. And I feel like, and I'm always spending time with the Lord doing worship, praying while I'm on my rhymes or walks. And all of a sudden I feel compelled to start.

 

picking up trash, okay? And I'm a little embarrassed by it, but it's such a compelling feeling that I know I have to do it. So I start picking up trash and I'm holding it and I'm embarrassed. But I wanted to be obedient to that. And so I'm holding it until I can find a trash can like a mile or two away. And I go to throw the trash away and all of a sudden I feel Holy Spirit say,

 

One day you're going to be putting people back where they belong that society has deemed trash and not worthy of redemption. And you're going to put them back where they belong. And I really never told anyone that story except one friend that night. I was at a track meet for my son and my friend Helen is a Jesus freak along with me. And I'm like, listen,

 

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feel like I heard the Lord say this. This is weird. So anyway, he talks to us, he walks with us, and we just have to pay attention to his voice. And he's made me confident in the things that he said to me. But these people, to your point, are redeemable. And the Lord is redeeming all of that pain in their lives. And he's using, I mean, it's the biggest honor of our lives.

 

He's using us to be a part of that redemption. We get a front row seat at seeing these people be redeemed. We have a mom moving out today and I am just so proud of her. But when she first came to Eli's house, she couldn't look at us. She couldn't look at us. There was so much shame on her and she could barely receive anything from us. She was just like,

 

You know, what do they want from me? Why are you being so nice to me? And so, um, she's moving out today. We've gotten her a car. We're furnishing her apartment. She's got an amazing job. She's got about four or $5,000 in her account that she saved up. And I mean, she's afraid we're going to leave her. And I said, listen here, I'm like Velcro. I'm not going anywhere. You'll see, you don't know it yet, but you'll see. anyway, um,

 

It's not a you're done and you move on to the next one and you're finished. I mean, this is a walk in for these women that have had lifelong trauma. mean, they have I mean, their brain has connected. It has grown in with this trauma. So what what all do you guys do to help not just rehabilitate the mind, but help them to like have news? Was it?

 

Was it synapses? You know, like you're there like forming new parts of their brain and having to overwrite that trauma. So what do you guys all do to

 

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Yeah, I'll let Natalie and I'll tag team this one. I mean, you know, it's really biblical what we do. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And what we know now is science will tell you, you can actually change the pathways in your brain due to neuroplasticity. Right. So it goes back to the word. That's the way, the truth, the life.

 

and we renew their mind. And that's the biggest thing we do spiritually is the foundation of what we do. But I'll let Natalie talk about a little bit about practically how we do that.

 

So, mean, you think about the heart and the mind, you can't, we can't change somebody, but we can instill some things that can help create atmospheres where change can happen. So emotional intelligence curriculum, like walking in them through grief and loss. And what is that? How do you grieve? How do you process loss? Codependency, being enmeshed in situations where

 

You're tied to people that are really unhealthy because you're so insecure that your needs won't be met unless, you know, so from that to anger management, a lot of times there's this outburst of anger, but it's really wounded, you know, it's hurt. And so emotional intelligence, becoming aware of themselves, all that kind of programming is really, really important to begin to open up them even understanding what is trauma, where have I come from? Why am I doing what I'm doing? So there's that. There's also trauma informed therapy.

 

It's really important that we have them speaking or really therapists listening to them, hearing their stories, then begin working through that. there's therapists, there's curriculum they're going through, as Jenny just spoke of, spiritual development, speaking truth into their life. Some of the women come in, you don't have to be a Christian to be a part of Eli's house, but we unashamedly feel like

 

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that if you begin to understand the love of the Father, the unconditional love and mercy and the grace that He provides, and that really is at the core what's going to change people from the inside out. We believe that it's a supernatural thing. And so some women come in with some type of background, some women don't really know anything at all, but we infuse through not only what we say, but hopefully the way we treat them, that God loves you no matter what.

 

And so from spiritual development to emotional intelligence programming to, you know, the trauma-informed therapy, we're trying to create spaces and places and environments for their hearts and minds to begin to calm down and to be able to grow.

 

Yeah, and you know, you can't change the things that you do until you change the way that you think. And so it's really about. Yeah.

 

good.

 

But it's true. I mean, there's so many other things that come along with that. Just the depression, the anxiety there, you know, your mind is kind of spinning when you're coming out of those situations. And I wish every church would have these programs to where they weren't just praying and I'll walk beside you, but they would also implement these therapies. And because until you really heal that mind, the heart really has a hard time following. It's like you're chasing your own tail.

 

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in these situations. And, and I love what you said about, you know, kind of hard to come out of things like this without faith. You know, it's having that grace and learning and understanding that grace because it's really hard just to forgive yourself if you don't feel like, like the over casting the world, the universe is like, forgiven you. Does that make sense? Like, it's like the burden being removed. It's not just about you.

 

There is this loving father that is forgiving and gracious and I don't know.

 

Yeah, unconditionally loving. And I always try to, it's hard for them to understand that because their own fathers didn't love them. They rejected them or beat them or abused them or what, they, you know, the very people they were supposed to be able to trust, let them down. So how do you make sense of a heavenly father who loves you? And that can only happen supernaturally. But what we know at Eli's house is,

 

It's the goodness of the Lord that leads man to repentance. And so when we first opened the doors, I so, I was like,

 

What do do I do? How am I gonna help?

 

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I'm not gonna have them. And he said, know what? it's very simple. You're gonna love them. You're gonna love them. That's what heals them. And you know, what does that mean? Practically? means I'm going to be patient with them. I'm going to apologize to them when I've hurt them, even if it's irrational. Okay. Because I want to gain their trust and I want them to know.

 

You are loved. is nothing you can do to make me stop loving you. And isn't that the narrative of our heavenly dad? I mean, the way that I've behaved and he still wants to use me to do this. Are you kidding me? And so it is the biggest honor of my life to be able to love them the way he has loved me. I mean, that's why I do what I do here. And I know it's the reason.

 

The staff works here is to love these women in our imperfection, right? for some reason, all he needs us to do is say yes, and he does the rest.

 

Yeah. So many times we have met with people and done podcasts and almost everyone has the same story. They're like, this isn't my gifting, you know, I've never saw myself doing this, but it's not what that's about. It's, I know I've been watching the house of David, which by the way is so amazing plug for them, but just seeing someone who was so unlikely, like the smallest, like out on the hillside, like you wouldn't think that that would be the person that would be raised up.

 

But God just uses who is willing. And that's just what happens in the world. It's sometimes the most unlikely person that has been kind of like, you're doing this because you listen and your heart is where it needs to be at this moment.

 

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Mm-hmm.

 

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And usually those of us that have been called have had to walk through the fire. And that's the thing, you know, that scripture that says, all things, I will use all things for your good. Well, I spent 16 years in litigation fighting for Eli, not understanding, why Lord, are you allowing this to happen? Why are you allowing this to happen? I probably lived on the why cul-de-sac.

 

the dead end street for about six years until the Lord said to me, stop walking around in defeat. Nobody can see me in you that way. And that's when I began to come out of this victim mentality. So I really have a heart for a victim mentality. I do. And most of our moms come here with it. But boy, you got to get off that dead end street because it is a dead end street and there's so much more on the other side of it. Right.

 

And that's the biggest thing is that he equipped me through my pain. And that's the thing, Paul says, rejoice in your suffering because it produces character. No, it produces perseverance. And this isn't just like a small perseverance. This is a militant perseverance. I will not stop until I see fruit. I will not stop.

 

I got to learn that kind of perseverance over those 16 years of sending my son somewhere where I didn't think he was safe. Paul also goes on to say, it produces perseverance, character, and hope. And I am living proof of that scripture. So now when I face pain, I'm like, all right, Lord, don't let me waste this. What can I learn from this?

 

He calls people that have walked through the fire. So I just want to encourage everyone who is listening to this. If you are walking through the fire, do the very opposite thing that your human flesh wants to do. You want to cry about it, but rejoice in it. Bring it to the Lord and let him use it for your good, because he does. He is who he says he is.

 

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And that is so good. That is so good. Cause I think the worst thing about pain is well, being alone in it and you are creating some, you know, an opportunity to be walked with during this time. But, know, but just help having somebody help you turn that around to get positive, to stay positive and to not be in vain. I think that's so bad. And you go through bad things and then it was all in vain. Like there was no meaning out of this. Well, you chose that.

 

You can take your situation and to find the empathy for others and help them through that time. I love that. I feel that's what you're doing at Eli's house. You have taken all the hurt and the pain and instead of just having it in vain, you have focused that to help other women find, you know, they're not just peace and joy and all these, but to feel confidence.

 

Because I think women are so beat down after coming out of these situations that that confidence is like the number one thing they need and having somebody walk them through that. think that's just beautiful. Just beautiful. Because you guys don't work with a ton of people at a time. It's not like you have a hundred different situations going. You guys kind of hyper focus and really work with these women. How many families are there at a time?

 

Yeah.

 

Yeah, and I will. So I'll answer that question and then I'll answer like our God sized goal with along with what you're saying about. We're not just serving spitting people in and out. So we in our home currently we can serve five families. We've had up to 16 women and children in our home at one time. So we are going deep and wide and our prayer.

 

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And this is why, you know, first of all, they can stay with us up to two years, which sounds like a long time. But when you think about how long their journeys have been, you know, they didn't get in these situations overnight. They're not going to heal. So really, two years is a blip on the radar when you think about a lifetime of healing and growth. But our prayer is that God in the timeframe that they're with us would halt negative generational cycles. I mean, this is cycles and this is generations back.

 

and would change, literally change the trajectory of the family lines through these women that are here right now so that their great grandkids will forever be changed because of what's happening today. So, I mean, we don't just see, I mean, honestly, I don't just see, and my prayer is not just that the women and children that are here right now are healed and begin to grow, but generations to come will be impacted because of what's happening today.

 

Right. So we serve five families at a time currently. And then I just met with a civil engineer yesterday to see what we can do on the property. And we would like to expand to at least serve 10 at a time. So we're working towards that in 2025 to see what are our next steps? Do we get to stay at this location and expand or do we need to move and expand? But we never want to get too big because we want to keep a family.

 

atmosphere and we want to just go deep.

 

One thing on that, are you still filled with the anxiety of having it released and letting God control that piece of Because I know a lot of people struggle with this. Do you still have that anticipation, or not anticipation, but that anxiety? Or have you reached that point, like, you know what, He's got it, I'm good?

 

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Yeah, anxiety as far as what? mean, I could have anxiety over women. No one! Are we talking about expanding?

 

Expanding, yes. was talking, sorry, expanding.

 

No, like he has proven himself to be faithful in all areas of Eli's house. My job is to sit at his feet and worship him and connect with his heart. And as long as I'm doing my part and staying connected with the Lord, I don't worry about single thing. know, that's what I

 

I need to be there. Yeah. I'm gonna hang with you.

 

Well, you know, like I said, that refining fire, you having to send your kids somewhere for years, not knowing. Yeah, it really shows you who is my faith in. Is it in the Lord or is it in me controlling things? it in the world? I know who's in control and I am totally surrendered to that. And so, you know, that scripture that says something like, man,

 

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not having control.

 

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plans his steps, the Lord controls his path. I'm like, okay Lord, I want to do this, I want to do this. And even if I make mistakes, you guys, he cleans it up for me. And trust me, I've made a lot of mistakes. But now I know that's how you learn, that's how you grow. And I've become a lot more resilient after those mistakes. I don't want to beat me down.

 

I brush myself off and I keep on moving forward and try to do better the next time. if we're gonna expand, then I believe it's in as well. And if we're not, we're just gonna keep waiting until we do.

 

And real quick, I definitely don't want to miss this. Would you explain how you came up with the name?

 

Oh yeah, that's good. Everybody's always like, Eli's house with dots after it. What does that really mean? So it's got a few different meanings. The biggest thing is it stands for my three children. So the E stands for Eli. He's named after the prophet Elijah. So it's E, he's 19.

 

For Eli, L is Luca. He's my 16 year old who goes to Crest Presbyterian Academy. He's a sophomore. He just got voted best lacrosse player in Tennessee. with a couple. I know, I'm so proud of him. So anyway, then the I stands for Isabella, our adopted daughter who we got at five days old and now she's six. And I mean, the Lord just blessed me with a daughter. I never thought I'd have one, you know?

 

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That's just been the biggest joy. So it's all about my children. And after the Lord gave me the name for Eli's house, a few months later, he says, not only is this an inheritance for your children and children in general, but this is a Malachi four moment. So the name also comes from the prophet Elijah. And we're founded on a scripture out of Malachi four verses five and six that says,

 

I will send the prophet Elijah. He will turn the hearts of the parents back towards the children and the hearts of the children back towards the parents. And that's what we do at Eli's house. So that's the name.

 

I it. I love it. I love the meaning behind names and to have it after your children. That's amazing. So would you share a little bit about the healing part of how, what you guys provide for the women and children?

 

Mm hmm. Yeah. So our programs up to two years, most of our moms get finished before that. And some of them are going to take a little bit longer. And so they're able to stay up to two years. So the first part of the program is our empower transformation phase. It can last anywhere from six months to 12 months. But we're really focused on that emotional intelligence. So they're going through courses at

 

one of our partners, National Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition. So our moms go to classes there. And so they're really just working on understanding why they're doing what they're doing so that they can change the things that they do. A lot of healing takes place during those courses. We do freedom prayer with our moms. Our moms go to church every Sunday. They do a

 

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single mom program on Wed at Judson called embrace reaching out and getting is really the goal. We put all of our moms, they get a month and just trying to h community. I really belie thing we do at Eli's hou healthy community around

 

healthier than we were ever around, right? None of us are perfect, but we need people. We were never meant to do this alone.

 

love that. Yeah. Isolation is like the worst, maybe at the beginning to kind of get someone out. But I mean, if they're not out there interacting and opening themselves up, I can see where it could do the opposite.

 

That's right. That's the whole purpose of the church. We were meant to connect with each other and that's how we heal when we can express ourselves to each other instead of having to be a therapist. Although therapists are great, but you know, it's expensive. So we're really hitting them in every area during that time. We'll do some neurofeedback with some of our moms as well, which helps. And then they move into the established and independence phase.

 

which we really work on healthcare insurance, doctor's appointments, dental appointments. Most of our moms have never seen a dentist and they have a lot of abscesses in their teeth. So we make sure we help them in that area. We help them with driver's licenses. We get them cars and then we help them find a job during that part. Then they move into our equip futures phase, which is really where they're working full-time hours.

 

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We ask them to pay down their debt so that their credit score goes up. We ask them to pay, save, I'm sorry, we ask them to save 50 % of their take home income. They will pay a little bit of rent during that phase just to get them in a habit of budgeting. We did in the beginning let them stay here for free and that was really a disservice because they weren't figuring out how to budget and save that money. And so we really want to help them.

 

launch out a year as independently as possible. then we have, once they save a six month emergency fund, we help them move out. We find them a place to live. We furnish their apartment. We move them out of here and then we stay connected with them once they're gone. And we do provide them case management services for that first year that they're gone from Eli's house. but they're all, they all, if they stay in this area, they go to church with us every Sunday.

 

thereafter too. So we stay connected in that way.

 

And we like to do like alumni kind of events, like have them come back for an Easter egg hunt, like for example, or Thanksgiving or Christmas. And so, I mean, we want them to stay connected if they're able as much as they can because just because they've graduated. And so we're really building.

 

Well, yeah. And what we see is they really need a lot of support when they're out on their own. So we still try to help give them some respite here and there. So one of our alumni moms, found one of our volunteers to watch her kids this weekend just for a night so she can have a minute, you know, because it's tough as a

 

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We all need a minute.

 

We need a minute

 

Everyone needs a minute.

 

Yes. Some more than others. Yes. Talking about myself here. Yeah. So what about the... I'm interested to know more about the horses.

 

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I grew up with horses, they were mean, mean horses. were not therapeutic.

 

Well, this area of our program has evolved. So we used to go out to College Grove and do equine therapy out there. And that's really when I started drinking the Kool-Aid on this stuff. Okay. Cause our friend Melissa, who's the equine therapist did a staff session with us and it is experiential healing. It is the coolest thing how

 

The horses, you know, one of the exercises they did with us was try to call the horse. And I want you to tell me the first time you think the horse heard you. So I was yelling at the horse going on and on and on. And that horse never like turned my direction or anything. And she said, well, actually the first time you called the horse, his ear twitched. heard you. And so even though you do things with your mom's

 

and you're not sure if they're hearing you, they probably are. I mean, it's like, wow. Okay. And that's just one example of equine therapy. So we partner with freedom reigns. We partner with saddle up now just to try to get our budget shaved down so that we can save money and expand. So we don't get to do equine as often as we used to, but we're doing it sometimes three times a year. I just need to get,

 

with Freedom Rains and we love Freedom Rains. We just did that one last week and gosh, they were incredible with our mom. And we love equine therapy. I love experiential therapy. Sometimes the moms don't want to talk about their stuff anymore and they just need another way to get it out. Because the trauma is so much and you have to relive that and that's hard.

 

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I can imagine that.

 

Yeah, and just the freedom that a ride, you know, I grew up on a lot of acreage and with horses and like I said, mine was personally very mean, but I loved going up, saddling the horse by myself. I'm like third, fourth grade, saddling my horse by myself, getting on there and riding by myself. And I'm so fortunate that I grew up with that, but just that being alone with the Lord and just riding and just breathing.

 

just being out in nature, they're just something that's very freeing about that. And so, I mean, to me, just riding alone is therapeutic or being around them, brushing them is, you therapeutic. I don't know. I love horses, you can tell.

 

You know what I read somewhere that the horse, as you spend time with the horse and get to connect with the horse, eventually their heart rate can sync with yours. It's so cool how the Lord gives us these animals that really can help us heal. I always think about it when I'm driving past somebody homeless and they've got this dog with them. Even there, the Lord provides somebody for them.

 

to have a connection with. I love that.

 

 (36:02.648)

That always touches me too, because we're pet people as well. when I see the pets with them, like, you know, cause I know how much, how much our pups matter to us and how much love that they give. but back to the horses, know, you know, my mother grew up with a horse and she always talks about the stories of her just out riding, just riding, you know, on the farm or all over the place and you know, all the,

 

the stories behind that horse was a big part of her childhood. And I'm sure it offered a lot of therapy to her at the time, just as a kid growing up.

 

Yeah, and it does come into your brain. It helps heal.

 

So real quick on the, you guys offer on-site tours, is that correct? Can you share just a little bit about that? if anybody's interesting or interested to know more about this.

 

Absolutely. Yeah. So we are actually having, we provide tours, coffee tours and luncheons. We're having a luncheon right after this. So twice a month, on Friday mornings at 10 AM, on our website, you can go to Eli's house.org and you can click coffee tour and it'll show you the rest of the year, all the dates of the coffee tours. And then you can just sign up, takes like two or three minutes, you know? And so we, that's just an opportunity for people in the community to

 

 (37:32.638)

Jenny and I will share and then we'll have coffee and we'll take people on a tour of the house so they can really see what we're talking about. They can see it for themselves. So that's a great opportunity and easy way to connect and to even see where we are if they want to volunteer, where do I go and all that. And then we do, people will host luncheons and that just means that maybe someone that's come on a coffee tour

 

was really inspired or maybe, you know, there's other ways they've connected with this and they'll just host a luncheon, which means they bring the food box lunches or whatever, and they bring their friends and we do the rest. And it's basically the same thing as a coffee tour, but it's at lunchtime, especially for people that work and things like that. So today, just last month, a lady came through the doors of a luncheon of a friend. She was so inspired that she is actually hosted now. This is her second luncheon after only

 

Visiting Eli's house that she turned she just turned it right around and hosted she goes I want people to know about this I want to expose my community my neighbors people at my church and so anyone can host a luncheon it just means coordinating with me to find a date and time and they bring food and they bring their friends and Then then they can learn about Eli's house. So we have coffee

 

I haven't heard of that before. I love that.

 

Very unique. what ways you mentioned volunteers, like what opportunities? I know you had mentioned you guys have mentors and different things like that, but what are all the different ways that you can volunteer with you guys?

 

 (39:03.31)

Yeah, so first of all, logistically, again, you go to our website, you click volunteer, and you fill out a form. Even if you can't volunteer that month, I always tell people, ahead and fill it out and get in our system. You'll get information from us. So that's the first step. But some of the opportunities are, you know, providing meals for our families once a week. Our women rotate cooking for each other. And so it's an opportunity to give them a break, but also for people to come and bring food. And if you...

 

So wish you could come and sit and eat that dinner with them. So you can bring meals, you can help with transportation. It's amazing how many trips we take to the doctor's office, to the dentist's office, to the pediatrician.

 

NAHT classes, to the YMCA. I mean we do a lot of transportation.

 

Right. And that's a sweet opportunity to be in the car with a mom and to have a conversation. you'll you never know how God might use that conversation in both their life and your life. so transportation, bringing meals.

 

Child care, big need right now. We've got three boys in the house that we cannot get into preschool until April 28th. So we need a lot of help in that area right now.

 

 (40:21.998)

And any mom that has a child 12, a year old or younger, we keep them at Eli's house while the women are doing programming. So we'll have two hour shifts where someone can sign up to literally rock babies and love them. Correct. But that is often an opportunity. But like Jenny said, right now we need help with these three and four year old little boys that are here. So there's often childcare needs that come up.

 

And we don't have any at the moment.

 

 (40:47.826)

And even we do, which is really fun on the weekends, sometimes play dates. You can schedule and bring your family, bring your son or daughter and have a play date because what these children need. Yeah. Our interactions with other kids. Like we have a group of people from a church coming this Sunday with all their kids. They're bringing all the Easter eggs. They're bringing everything and they're doing an Easter egg con with our kids. Well, how fun is that for our kids to be with their kids?

 

And honestly, for their kids to be with our kids. So the one neat thing about Eli's house is that people can bring their children and volunteer, which is unique because there's a lot of places that don't allow that. So those are some of the ideas. Some things are consistent. We always need meals. We always need transportation. We always need organization, childcare. But then sometimes people get creative and they'll email us and say, can we do this for you? Can we do this for you? And so that's also something really neat about being a younger organization.

 

is we're open to people's ideas if they want to volunteer and use their gifts, art therapy. We had a woman say, I do a lot of art therapy. And so she came in and did some art therapy with the women a while back. So people have been real creative in that.

 

Bye.

 

That's very neat. All right, before we wrap up, on the other side, if somebody's needing help, or you know somebody that may need help, what would be the first steps?

 

 (42:02.06)

Mm-hmm.

 

 (42:15.464)

Yeah. So on our website, any mom can go on there and fill out an application. Once she does that, it'll notify us that we have a new application and then we'll call her. And as long as she's a candidate, meaning her children are nine years old or younger, she can pass a drug test. If you fail for marijuana, that's OK, but you really need to pass for everything else. You can't be an active addiction.

 

She's got to be 18 years old or older. And then if she passes all of those things, then we set up a phone interview and really just get to know the mom to understand a little bit more about the situation. And then if she passes that part, then we set up an in-person interview where.

 

We go to her, we meet her, we meet her children, and then we can make a decision on if she'll be a good fit for Eli's house and if she thinks Eli's house is a good fit for her. So that's kind of what the process looks like. We want to make sure that she feels comfortable with us and we feel comfortable with her.

 

That's wonderful. I do. I do too. Well, ladies, thank you so much. Thank you for spending time and sharing this, but more so thank you for your heart. Thank you. Just talking to both of you, can see that you've got this pure heart, your pure love, and your, let's just call it what it is. You've been obedient to the call of what God had chosen for you. like Mindy said earlier, it's

 

of that.

 

 (43:53.206)

it's amazing how many people say, I never planned on doing this, but it's the best thing that I've ever done. And it makes me wonder, you know, how many, how many times do we miss what we're supposed to do because we get rooted in what life is directing us instead of what God is or how God is directing us. So thank you so much for pouring into these women and the children. Thank you for just

 

Yeah.

 

loving on them and showing them that people are good, people care because, I know a lot of times that they've got to come from a standpoint or a background of where they may not have had that love. And they thought love was in a different form, came in a different form that was a negative in their life.

 

Can I share something? I don't know who will hear this podcast. And I forgot to mention this earlier, something really practical if people are like, I want to get to know more is that we are having our big annual fundraiser on August 28th. we are beginning, that is something that will be on our website soon. But if people are interested, it's at the country music hall of fame. It's a benefit concert on August 28th.

 

And so if people are like, I would, I would love to know more. It's a really fun event and a way to learn about us too. So we do fundraisers throughout the year. And I forgot to mention that, of course, as a development director, we can't keep our doors open if people aren't financially supporting us. So obviously on the website, there's a give, but also that event on August 28th is something people could be a part of. And we would love for people to consider to do that. And it's a really great way to learn about who we are here with testimonies of women and things like that.

 

 (45:26.062)

That's right.

 

 (45:41.934)

And is that on the website at the moment?

 

At the moment, it is not up on the website, but we will be getting it up there soon. And also people can directly email me, Natalie at Eli's House.org and I can get all the information to them.

 

Perfect.

 

Yeah, but this work is the biggest honor of our lives and it's such a gift to be able to love these women and children and have a front row seat at seeing their lives change because of the love that Jesus has for them. so thanks for having us on and thank you for letting us spread the word about what we're doing because we are new. We're only almost three years old, so we need people to know we're over here in Franklin doing this work.

 

Well, thank you all for joining us, taking time out. I know you have a luncheon and so I know getting it in between all the things that you do. So it is very appreciative. All right. So that is a wrap on this episode. Amazing episode. Amazing work that you guys are doing. So, Jenny and Natalie, thank you so much for joining us and to everybody that's been listening.

 

 (46:55.63)

Thank you for tuning in and if you know of anybody that needs help, if you are somebody that needs help, please don't hesitate. Reach out, go to the website. The website, we'll have the address on here, but it's elishouse.org, right? Eli's house.org. We'll have that information for you. Please check it out. Don't put it off any longer. But thank you for listening. Once again, always remember that.

 

Your voice matters and you matter and together we can build a better community. Thank you. And that brings us to the end of another episode of You Matter Nashville.

 

We hope today's show has left you feeling as uplifted and inspired as we are. Remember, the spirit of Nashville lives in all of us and every small act of kindness echoes throughout the community.

 

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Until next time, keep making the difference Nashville. You matter more than you know.